Application of Sun Oil Co.
United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
426 F.2d 401 (1970)
Relevant factsFree
Sun Oil (plaintiff) sought to register "Custom-Blended," used since 1956 on its point-of-sale gasoline-blending pumps, but the trademark examiner and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found the mark merely descriptive of gasoline blended per customer at the pump, and Sun Oil's customer surveys showed only that consumers understood the descriptive meaning, not that they associated the mark with Sun Oil as a specific source.
IssueFree
Whether, for trademark purposes, the owner of a descriptive mark bears the burden of proving that the mark has achieved secondary meaning as a source identifier in the minds of the consuming public.